Various forms of digital items are subject to access controls. These digital items include, but are not limited to, virtual appliances operating on virtual machines, as well as applications, digital media, and digital documents. There are many reasons as to why this is advantageous. For instance, the owner of the digital item may wish to ensure the security of the digital item. Alternatively, the owner of the digital item may wish to ensure that they receive compensation for the use and/or access of the digital item. One way to control access to a digital item is to limit the number of accesses a user may be granted to the digital item.